Ottawa Police Services have reached a settlement in respect of the lawsuit filed by the family of Abdirahman Abdi, a Somali-Canadian who died after he was violently arrest by two Ottawa police officers in 2016.
The Abdi family filed a $1.5 million civil lawsuit against the Ottawa Police Services Board, former Ottawa police chief Charles Bordeleau, and the constables that were involved in his arrest, David Weir and Daniel Montsion.
Montsion has been found not guilty of manslaughter, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon in connection to Abdi’s death.
The family claimed that the two constables utilized excessive force while they were trying to arrest Abdi for allegedly molesting people inside a coffee shop in Hintonburg.
The Ottawa Police Services Board revealed during a recent public meeting that the agreement had been reached.
The board said the details of the agreement would not be released publicly.
The board and the family in a joint statement said: “Significant improvements to the way police respond to individuals experiencing mental health events in our community is necessary and needs to take place in the immediate future.”
According to the statement, the Abdi family is “encouraged” by Ottawa Police Services’ development of a mental health response strategy and have requested that the community “work co-operatively in pursuit of this goal.”
The statement added: “Ensuring better future outcomes will be an important legacy of Abdirahman’s life.”
